I've Been Waiting
by nejiandtentenfan
Summary: Tenten's waited for Neji to tell her that he loved her since she was 13, but he didn't. Not only did he not tell her the phrase she wanted to here, he just left her at age 17. What will happen when Neji returns a year later? [NejiTen]


**A/N: I don't own Naruto!**

Chapter 1

_Crack…crack…crack…_

A tree branch was cracking like crazy, giving away Lee's hiding spot. Tenten immediately picked up the noise and threw a kunai at Lee's direction. With quick reflexes, Lee jumped off of the tree. He landed by Tenten's feet.

Lee was panting hard, his face dripping with sweat. Tenten smirked, "Gotta be quieter than that if you want to land a sneak attack on me!"

Lee smiled at her, "Yes Tenten-chan! I will train harder to improve my skill!"

Tenten smiled politely and they bowed deeply to each other. Time to go home. They had been training all morning for hours nonstop. They were both quite tired. It had been a year since Neji left to seek power from outside of Konoha. Tenten and Lee were now 18 years old.

Tenten had continuously blamed it all on herself. "If I was stronger, Neji wouldn't have felt like Konoha was a weak village, and he wouldn't have left to try to improve himself," she muttered under her breath while she was walking home.

Things weren't the same without Neji. Tenten didn't enjoy training alone with Lee, she admired Lee's quick speed and she was grateful for the good training he gave her…but she never got a chance to train with a ninjutsu user after Neji left.

She contined walking, not paying attention to her surroundings. Her mind was spinning with thoughts about how much she regretted losing Neji.

She remembered the day she found out he left…he left without saying goodbye…

_FLASHBACK_

_Tenten was 16 years old and full of spirit. She ran to Neji's house and knocked loudly on his door, "NEJIIII!!! NEJIIII! OPEN UP!! GAI SENSEI REQUESTED TO HOLD A TRAINING SESSION TODAY, LET'S GO!"_

_A woman opened looking about 50 years of age opened the door with a frown plastered on her face. She had long brown hair much like Neji's and shining blue eyes. She looked fairly young for her age, but she had a fair number of wrinkles…probably due to the fact that her husband had died. She probably goes through a ton of stress everyday. Even Neji gets tense when people talk about his deceased father._

_The widow looked at Tenten with sadened eyes and Tenten bowed and apologized, "Gomensai…I just wanted to let Neji-kun know…"_

_Neji's mother frowned even more and said quietly, "Neji's…not here…"_

_Tenten looked a bit surprised and said, "Oh! Well, do you know where I can find him?"_

_Neji's mother shook her head slowly, "No…I mean Neji…left for good. He's no longer in Konoha."_

_Tenten wasn't sure if this woman was serious. "Um…well…w-why?"_

"_He left to train with stronger people…to learn new techniques, that kind of thing."_

_Tenten's eyes started tearing up, "Oh…sorry to bother you…"_

_Neji's mother saw the pain in this young girl's eyes forced a small smile, "Don't worry about it." And she closed the door._

_Tenten had loved Neji ever since she was 13 years old and always waited for that one simple word, 'Aishiteru.' But it never came, and now Neji was LEAVING her?_

_As soon as the door closed, a crystal tear rolled down Tenten's cheek and dropped on the ground. Her breath started becoming uneven, and she whispered under her breath, "Why Neji…why did you have to…" She couldn't force any more words out of herself. She dropped on her knees and cupped her hands over her face and started crying hard. Her Neji had abandoned her._

_END OF FLASHBACK_

Tenten clenched her fists, she had made a vow to become stronger. If Neji ever returned, she would show him that she was stronger than ever before. Tenten walked faster, getting more and more worked up.

She walked into her house and kicked off her sandals. She ran upstairs and peeled off her sweaty clothes. She walked into her bathroom and took a shower.

It only took her about 5 minutes. She was already hot enough as it was, getting drenched in steaming water wasn't her idea of relaxing. But she didn't take a cold shower, her parents always warned her that she would get sick, and that was the last thing she wanted. She needed to keep her health up so she could train to become stronger.

She stepped out of the bathroom, clad in a baby pink cami and gray short shorts. A medium-sized white towel was wrapped around her hair on top of her head. She walked straight to her computer and sat down.

She didn't feel like training after all those long hours and the internet was always a way to calm her down. She noticed a small blinking icon in the shape of an envelope at the bottom right hand corner of her screen.

_I have…mail?_

Tenten usually never got emails just because she didn't check it often, so most of her friends stopped emailing her. Who wants to send emails to someone who just ignores it?

Tenten clicked on the small icon and a new window opened in front of her.

It was from 'lil miss haruno.' _Sakura, _Tenten thought immediately.

It read:

_Hey, come to the hospital, I have a surprise for you._

Tenten's brow furrowed, _a…surprise…?_

Tenten could use some fun in her life. She had been training with Lee every single day after Neji had left. It was boring, and it was killing her. She decided to go, she had nothing better to do.

Tenten looked out the window, the sun was blazing. Tenten decided her cami and short shorts were appropriate for the weather. Tenten unwrapped the towel from her head and threw it on her bed. Her hair was in damp, messy waves. _Ugh, _Tenten thought, glancing at her hair in her mirror. She didn't feel like putting it up, so she left the house in the condition she was in.

On the way to the hospital, Tenten's cell phone rang. Tenten reached into the pocket of her grey shorts and snatched up her deep blue cell phone. Tenten flipped it open and held it up to her ear, "Hello?"

"Konichiwa Tenten!" Sakura's voice rang happily.

"Hey Sakura."

"My phone wasn't working earlier so I emailed you…which was kind of pointless because you don't check it anyways. BUT, come to the hospital ASAP!"

"I got your email Sakura…and I'm on my way now…"

Sakura paused and sounded a little embarassed about the email comment, "Oh…uh…ok, see you soon, bye!"

Tenten said goodbye and flipped her phone closed. She sighed and put the phone back in her pocket. What does Sakura want from her?

Tenten reached the main entrance of the hospital and pushed open the glass door. The lady working the front desk gave her a warm smile, "Welcome! How may I help you?"

Tenten smiled politely and said, "Oh, my friend Haruno Sakura invited me to come. Do you happen to know which room she's in?"

The lady nodded, "Mhm! Right this way."

She guided Tenten down a long hallways with endless rooms. It was fairly dark. _They need to get a new lighting system, _Tenten thought.

Finally they reached a room labeled '62' and the lady gently opened the door. The old door made a soft creaking sound, but Tenten didn't mind. As soon as Tenten got a glimpse of the inside of the room, she blinked a few times in shock.

Lying on the hospital cot was the Hyuuga that had crushed her heart a year ago. She was awestruck and couldn't help but stare for a few seconds. The lady closed the door behind Tenten and left them alone.

Of course they weren't all alone, Sakura was sitting on a chair beside Neji's bed. Sakura didn't say anything when she watched Tenten enter, no need to disturb this reunion.

What had happened was a few ANBUs had found Neji half dead in the Sound Village. He was now in the hospital being taken care of. His face was all scarred up. He wasn't wearing a shirt, his whole upper body was bandaged up. Tenten almost started crying when she saw her former teammate.

He looked like he was in a lot of pain. But what is pain to a Hyuuga? Nothing. Pain is a weakness to them.

She didn't even want to look at Neji. She hated him for leaving her. She just stood where she was, her eyes staring in a different direction. Neji, however, couldn't keep his eyes off of her.

"Tenten…" he said weakly.

Tenten didn't look at him. She looked down at the floor and said, "What."

Her voice had such bitterness, Neji didn't expect this from her. What happened to the innocent little high-pitched girl he used to know.

"Is that anyway to greet your old teammate?" Neji said reasonably.

Tenten's head still wouldn't budge, _I am not going to look at him…I am not going to look at him…I am NOT…_

But before Tenten could finish her thoughts, she heard Neji speak, "I missed you."

Tenten spat out the words, "Well, I certainly didn't miss you." Even though she clearly knew that wasn't true.

Neji had to admit, he kind of liked this new side of Tenten. She knew how to defend herself.

"Tenten…" Neji started again.

Tenten didn't answer.

Neji didn't really wait for a response, "Look at me."

Tenten clenched her fists and looked up at the face she once loved. Neji grinned, "My how pretty you look."

Tenten started tearing up again. Neji could see this.

Tenten started to speak, her voice trembling with anger, "Do you think this is all some kind of JOKE?"

Neji remained silent, his face was emotionless.

"You LEAVE me without even warning our team and now you come back thinking that you can play around with my emotions?" Tenten's voice was rising.

Neji remained silent.

"Do you know how much pain you caused your mother? Do you know how much pain you caused Konoha for losing a prodigy like you? Do you know…" Tenten's voice started trembling harder, "how much pain you caused…me?"

Neji's eyes widened.

Tenten turned around to keep Neji from seeing the large tear drops roll down her face, she opened the door and was about to leave when Neji said, "Come here Tenten, I want to tell you something."

Tenten stayed glued to the spot she was standing, but she eventually told herself that she could take one last look at the prodigy she once loved.

She turned around and looked at him, his face was still emotionless. He saw the tears streaking down her face. Tenten looked down at Sakura, who said with her eyes, _go to Neji._

Tenten slowly walked over to Neji and sat down on the side of his bed. Sakura, sensing they needed some privacy, got up and left.

Neji studied her, she had gotten so much more beautiful and feminine over the years. Was this really the Tenten he knew? He looked at her straight in the eyes.

Tenten couldn't help it, she broke down and sobbed hard into his chest and she said between breaths, "How…could you…do that to me?"

Neji held her gently and said, "Gomensai, it wasn't because of you. I wanted to be more skillful…because I have to bring honor to the Hyuuga clan."

That made sense to Tenten, after all, he WAS the pride and joy of the Hyuuga clan.

Tenten's breathing evened out, "What did you want to tell me…?"

Neji ran his fingers through her damp hair a few times before answering, "Aishiteru Tenten."

Tenten hugged him harder before saying softly, "I've been waiting."

**A/N: Please comment/review, thanks!**


End file.
